Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control

HART is a protocol that sends digital data over the same two wires as a 4-20 mA analog signal, so one instrument gives you both. The FieldComm Group, which maintains HART, says it provides two simultaneous communication channels, the 4-20 mA analog signal and a digital signal, and that the digital signal runs at 1200 bps without interrupting the 4-20 mA signal. The digital channel carries extra information such as device status and diagnostics. The course explains HART and smart transmitters alongside the 4-20 mA loop calculations.

The usual standard for instrument symbols and tag numbers on a P&ID is ISA-5.1, published by the International Society of Automation. ISA says the standard establishes a uniform means of depicting and identifying instrumentation and control functions, and its 2024 revision renamed it Instrumentation and Control Symbols and Identification. The course teaches you to read a P&ID, so you can recognise the tags and symbols on real drawings.

An instrumentation technician installs, calibrates, tests and repairs the instruments that measure and control a process. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics groups this work under electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians, whose duties include building, calibrating and repairing electrical instruments, and it gives their median annual wage as $78,190 in May 2025. BLS projects employment in that group to grow 2 percent from 2025 to 2035. Pay varies a lot by country and industry, so treat the US figure as a reference point only.

No. A multimeter and any 4-20 mA transmitter or a loop calibrator make the loop modules hands-on, but every practice task can be done on paper.

Both. Technicians get the principles behind what they wire and calibrate; engineers get the field reality behind the P&ID. The calculations module is the one interviewers ask about.

Oil and gas, power, chemicals, pharma, water, cement, food and any plant with a control room. The instruments and the 4-20 mA loop are the same everywhere.

The animations show the principle in two minutes, and the notes and practice tasks add the depth: ranges, wiring, failure modes and the calculations.

Yes. Every module, practice task and assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and the assessments can be marked. The certificate is the only paid item, and only if you want it.

An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you pass the final assessment, with a verification code anyone can check. It is not an ISA, vendor or government credential and is never described as one.

The creators named in the Credits block at the foot of this page, on their own YouTube channels. EDWartens did not make the videos and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.

No. The lab is optional practice. You can skip it whenever you like, and it never blocks your progress, the final assessment or your certificate.

Yes. Every lab level for this course opens in your browser, free, with nothing to install.

The Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control course has 15 modules. It opens with "What Instrumentation and Control Is", goes through "Pressure Measurement", "Temperature Measurement", "Control Valves, Actuators and Positioners" and "Instruments in the Loop: PLC, DCS and SCADA" and ends with "Final Assessment". The full list with minutes is under "What you learn" on this page.

After the Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control course: Tell open-loop from closed-loop and name every part of a control loop; Explain absolute, gauge and differential pressure and the instruments that measure them; Choose a level and a flow technology for a service and say why. These are the practical outcomes the course is written around, and the final assessment of 15 questions checks them.

For the Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control course, software: None required. Hardware: none required. A multimeter and any 4-20 mA transmitter or loop calibrator make the loop modules real. The course itself is free.

Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control is rated beginner. Beginner. No prior instrumentation knowledge; basic electrical sense helps. It is written for engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in instrumentation and process plants, and takes about 6.5 hours at your own pace.

Skills from the Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control course (for example: tell open-loop from closed-loop and name every part of a control loop) are used in roles such as instrumentation technician, instrument engineer, calibration technician and process control engineer, and in instrumentation engineer work. The course gives you practical evidence of the skill; it does not promise a job, and employers decide on experience and interview.